Dungeons and Dragons has publicly released two pages from its upcoming book: Eberron: Rising from the Last War. This gives a preview into what is known as “living spells”. While this isn’t an entirely new concept for D&D, this new book updates the rules for 5th edition and provides customization options for Dungeon Masters.
Eberron: Rising from the Last War will release this November. It focuses on the world of Eberron, which is a break from traditional swords and sorcery and a more magical steampunk. Where spells fuel trains and races are unique to these lands. In Mournland, an area destroyed during the Last War, magical spells have gained sentience. They live off of their own energy and are aggressive, attacking creatures in their area.
As can be assumed based on their qualities, most of these spells tend to be conjuration or evocation (that is, creation and damage). Classic Dungeons and Dragons spells like Fireball could lurk about, ready to cause their traditional damage over and over again at any unsuspecting adventurer. Due to the nature of these spells, they cannot be hurt by that which they contain. A player could not use fire damage to destroy a Fireball, or necrotic damage to destroy a living Blight spell.
This preview also details how to customize other spells to make them Living Spells of the fifth level or lower. The preview can be viewed here, but how to customize the really high-level magic will remain a mystery until the book is released.
Dungeons and Dragons will release its new campaign book, Eberron: Rising from the Last War, on November 19th, 2019 anywhere where tabletop RPG books are typically sold. It will also be available to buy from online retailers, coming in after the other successful 2019 books Descent into Avernus and Ghosts of Saltmarsh.
